Why was Cadence so exhausted in the Crystal Empire 2-parter?

[Never2muchpinkie 211]

I understand it from an outside source. If Cadence and Shining Armor were both at peak form then there would have been no drama.Twilight would have found the Crystal Heart, and the good guys win easily. Boring.

 

However, from an in-universe perspective, I fail to see why she was so exhausted. With this 2-parter and A canterlot wedding we see that the two of them can both make city-wide shield's. So presumably they were taking it in turns to have one maintain a shield, while the other one investigates on the Crystal City.

 

Shining Armor's horn got blocked on their trip back, and the trip from the train station to the Crystal Empire couldn't be too long. I forget how far apart it looked but for arguments sake let's say an hour at absolute most.

 

So basically that meant that before Shining Armor left to greet them, a max of two hours round trip for him, Cadence was already pretty much exhausted. Given that in their premiere episodes his love for her was strong enough to give Queen Chrysalis enough power to defeat Celestia, that just doesn't seem likely that he would allow her to get like that.

 

Going off a presumption, from what we've seen of unicorn magic there doesn't seem to be a "MP Gauge" in that using magic doesn't really seem to have a cost. All it takes it enough will, and proper concentration, and you can keep a spell up indefinitely. So what was plaguing Cadence seemed to be sleepiness, not exhaustion from using magic. Again, for her to be in such a state that she's barely keeping herself up, meant that she had to have been up for a long time without resting for maybe a day BEFORE the Mane 6 were due to arrive, something, again, that Shining Armor shouldn't have been letting happen. It would make more sense if BOTH of them were at their limits from non-stop searching and shield maintenance, in a rush to find out the answer they're looking for before Sombra finds a way past their defenses  because it begs the question of why SA seemed at his peak while Cadence was on the brink of passing out.

 

If you look at King Sombra, he doesn't seem to be attacking the shield like the Changelings did, which is why Shining Armor was having migraine's from keeping his shield active, so we can't use that as a factor.

 

If Shining Armor had been attacked and had his magic blocked and a whole night passed with them looking for the Crystal Heart, it wouldn't bother me at all. In that case, she would have every right to be exhausted, maintaining a shield by herself, not letting herself sleep because she knows what would happen. But everything happens within the span of, say, two hours at most.

 

It just really bugs me. Sorry for the essay.

Edited October 15, 2013 by Never2muchpinkie

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

Well, even before the mane 6 got to the Crystal Empire, Cadence had already started using her magic to keep the Empire safe. So she was essentially in place of the Crystal Heart until it was returned. Since Shining Armor's horn was damaged by Sombra's dark magic, he couldn't sub out for her, which is why she grew very tired. 

[Mywas 687]

Because if she let she shield off for at least two seconds sombra would have entered the empire and killed everyone that is not a crystal pony?

[Whofch 128]

For whatever reason, the show made it sound like SA's shield wasn't effective against Sombra's magic. To be honest, it felt like a bit of dodgy writing when they tried to explain it. Made it sound like the horn problem was to blame even though that had only just happened.

 

Whatever the case, I got the impression that it was Cadence alone who had been keeping a shield up for days and was basically just getting too tired to keep it up.

[Marcato 2,143]

Canterlot is smaller than the crystal empire. ^^; 

 

Let's put it into perspective. Canterlot is often referred to as a city, while the Crystal Empire is... well... an empire. Let's go by the default and say an empire is bigger, if not much bigger, than a city. Shining armor didn't have a ton of difficulty holding the shield in Canterlot up, because it's way smaller. 

 

Plus, it's never been flat out stated that Shining Armor is stronger of weaker than Cadence when it comes to shields. If it's determined by will, and Cadence is the crystal princess, couldn't one assume that she would be most fit for defending the Crystal Kingdom for the longest?

 

With that in mind, Shining Armor may well have been not as powerful. Sure, he could probably hold up the shield, but by the time Cadence was getting very tired he had his magic blocked, ultimately resulting in being unable to buy the extra time. :3

 

How's that?

[The Prime Reaper 180]

Because she is just simply weaker than Twillight Sparkle beside with the absence of crystal heart, she has to use more energy to use magic in which she was too lazy back then (never uses magic to against any threat).

In the long time if you don't use magic, but when you trigger your magic again; you would take a lot of energy than normal like you used to good at math but in a long time if you don't study, you would suck if you do math again.

 

But the whole reason why Candace was weak because King Sombra is stronger.

[FNGRpony 658]

Okay, imagine if Cadence will is struggling against Sombre's need to break into the to the empire.
Sombre can afford to take breaks trying to bust in,

 

Cadence can't.  Sombre only has to get through once ^^.  So Cadence is doing a spell over a larger area against a powerful force adding to the stress.

 

That and time passing on the show is sometimes a bit longer than you might suspect.

[Malinter 3,064]

The two spells are totally different.

 

Shining Armour's is much smaller and doesn't need to be continuously cast. It also shatters if enough kinetic energy hits it.

 

Cadence's Shield covers a after larger area, Requires continuous casting. Does not shatter against impact but does shrink if the casting weakens. Disappears completely if the casting stops.

 

Also Cadence was facing sleep deprivation as well as magical fatigue. Not only was her magic being drained for focus was slipping due to not being able to sleep.

[Scootalove 10,689]

Cadence was trying to protect the Crystal Empire from King Sombra's dark magic, but in order to do that she had to keep the shield active. Meaning she had to keep casting the shield, not only that but she had sleep deprivation during that time which means a lack of sleep for a long period of time. That is why she was so exhausted.

[Never2muchpinkie 211]

The two spells are totally different.

 

Shining Armour's is much smaller and doesn't need to be continuously cast. It also shatters if enough kinetic energy hits it.

 

Cadence's Shield covers a after larger area, Requires continuous casting. Does not shatter against impact but does shrink if the casting weakens. Disappears completely if the casting stops.

 

Also Cadence was facing sleep deprivation as well as magical fatigue. Not only was her magic being drained for focus was slipping due to not being able to sleep.

I saw a different theory on another site that Shining Armor is better at the spell, thus why he doesn't need to cast it continuously, though why knows if thats actually the case.

 

On a completely unrelated note, I was glad for Games Ponies Play, because for goodness sake they finally cut Cadence a break, First two parter has her on the brink of exhaustion/starvation from being locked under a cave, and her next has her chronically sleep deprived from the need to keep up the shield. Though she also quickly bounces back despite all that. Girls got some guts.

[Fluttershutter 2,545]

I assume it was a different kind of shield. Shining Armor's needed an occassional recharge where Cadence's needed power constantly flowing into it.

[Forlong 1,726]

Because Shining Armor was riding her all night.

 

Kidding aside, Shining Armor explained this his protection spell was countered by King Sombra.  Only by spreading love and light were they able to stop him.

[Anadu Kune 668]

Well it was said that Cadences shield was one of "love and light". She was essentially serving as a replacement crystal heart. So this magic is love based magic which shining armor alone cant do. It was shown that normal magic really wasn't too effective against Sombra. Shining armor couldn't do anything against him and had all of his magic negated by Sombra. So essentially Cadence was up for an unknown length of time constantly casting the spell. 

It does seem that magic does to some extent exhaust them when the spell is harder to cast. Shining armor in A Canterlot Wedding said the shield spell was giving him headaches. Whilst this was probably actually due to Chrysalis's draining and brain washing him it is an accepted explanation. In Too Many Pinkie Pies Twilight expresses physical relief after her efforts in cast the transfiguration spell. She also displays considerable exhaustion when lifting the Ursa Minor, sinking lower to the ground and panting. So it would seem that magic does take a toll physically. So it should come as no surprise that Cadence would be tired